Heineken Pulls Plug on Controversial Ad

Beer maker Heineken has withdrawn a commercial for Heineken Light after the spot was accused of being racist.

“In the 30-second advertisement, a bartender slides a bottle of Heineken Light towards a woman,” USA Today notes. “The beer passes several men and women of color before reaching her and then the statement ‘Sometimes Lighter is Better’ appears.”

One high-profile critic of the spot is Chance the Rapper.

“The Grammy winner voiced his dismay about the commercial on Twitter calling it ‘terribly racist.’ He also questioned whether brands are purposely creating racist advertising to get attention,” USA Today reports.

The rapper tweeted: “I think some companies are purposely putting out noticably racist ads so they can get more views. … Im just noticing how often it happens and I think they baiting consumers …Like I didnt wanna tweet about it so bad … but its like how can u not.”

Heineken reportedly pulled the ad from TV and online.

A Heineken spokesperson is quoted saying: “For decades, Heineken has developed diverse marketing that shows there’s more that unites us than divides us. While we feel the ad is referencing our Heineken Light beer, we missed the mark, are taking the feedback to heart and will use this to influence future campaigns.”

3 Comments

It never ceases to amaze me how supposedly intelligence advertising creatives and client marketers can come up with such a tasteless, insensitive, and clueless premise and think it is an idea worthy of spending money to produce not to mention the ad budget spent to air the commercial.